Jakarta is the home of one of the most unusual residential projects in the world – a complete suburb built on top of a 10-story shopping mall.
Over the past 20 years, Jakarta has become one of the world’s most crowded megacities. With over 10 million residents in its metropolitan area alone and up to three times that in the greater Jakarta area, the city is quickly running out of land to build on. While other crowded capitals, like Tokyo, are expanding vertically, Jakarta usually expands horizontally, with most residents preferring low-rise houses instead of apartments. But with real-estate in increasingly short supply, developers have been forced to think outside the box, and that is how an urban curiosity like Cosmo Park came to exist.
Consisting of 78 two-story villas and featuring its own network of paved roads, plenty of greenery, swimming pools, and even a tennis court, Cosmo Park looks like a typical, cookie-cutter suburb. But zoom out a little bit, and you are in for a major shock. The whole place sits atop the Thamrin City Mall, a 10-story shopping mall in central Jakarta.
Cosmo Park has been around for about 14 years, but few knew about its existence outside the bustling Indonesian capital until 2019, when a photo shared on Twitter went viral. It showed the residential neighborhood from the air, with the rest of the ground-level city spread around it. The bizarre location left people scratching their heads about the safety of such a project.
Some of the residents of Cosmo Park admitted that they too thought it was strange when they first saw photos of the villas on Instagram. The idea of living so high up in a city where low-rise buildings are the norm seemed strange, but when they visited the place, they just fell in love with the peace and quiet as well as the privacy it offered, despite being in the center of the busy capital.
The entire residential area is divided into five blocks, from A to F, and it is accessible only to those with a Cosmo Park pass. Residents can drive to and from the sky-high neighborhood on a special ramp, and the whole place is surrounded by a high metal fence to prevent accidents.
Rooftop architecture is not unusual, but it is often illegal. Cosmo Park is, however, entirely different. Developers had all the necessary permits to go ahead with the project, and it is actually viewed by experts as an example of ingenious design.
Back in 2019, Cosmo Park houses were priced anywhere from 3 to 5 billion rupiahs (USD$200,000 – $334,000), but with inflation wreaking havoc all over the world and with real estate becoming even more scarce, we suspect that prices are much higher today.
LEARNING TOOLS
English questions about this article or about English in general?
Ask Teacher Jack at: asktjack1@gmail.com
CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PAGES:
ARCHIVE/JOKES TEACHER JACK IDIOMS ENGLISH FACTS
NEED A GREAT, EXPERIENCED ENGLISH TEACHER OR PERSONAL TUTOR? Contact Teacher Jack!
Facebook: Full Spectrum English Tutor Teacher Jack
ALWAYS SOMETHING NEW AT
Offbeat English
https://linggle-offbeatenglish.blogspot.com/
COME BACK SOON!